Rosberg running out of patience

Nico Rosberg has blasted his Mercedes GP team’s worsening form this year, claiming that he moved to the team to win races, but the car is now disintegrating into a “disaster”. Having been 2nd in the championship at one point this year, Rosberg is now 7th, and has only obtained 25 points from the last 5 races.

Nico Rosberg is furious that his former team Williams have overtaken Mercedes

Before the season began, we were all speculating as to how Nico would cope with driving alongside 7-times world champion Michael Schumacher, and would the team favour one over the other. Aside from rumours that the team were developing the car to Schumacher’s taste and not Rosberg, Nico has completely obliterated his team-mate, with more than double Schumacher’s points. However, the pace of the Mercedes car has collapsed in recent races, and Rosberg appears to be running out of patience.

After the European Grand Prix, it emerged that both Mercedes cars were suffering from brake difficulties, forcing both drivers to back off throughout the race. However, Nico’s true thoughts seem to come out at the end of this statement:

"I had a bad first lap because one of the Force India’s did
something stupid and I had to avoid him. Otherwise there would
have been a crash. Then my brakes wouldn’t have lasted, so I
had to take it easy for the whole race. I was just driving
round wasting time."

However, both Mercedes cars were out-qualified by the two Williams cars in Valencia, something that Rosberg is furious about. With the Cologne Express, he said:

"This is a disaster. The problem with the tyres is well-known within
the team. For weeks, we have said we would move forward but nothing
[has] happened – in fact, we’re going backwards. If you start in
twelfth behind both Williams’ [in Valencia], who were nowhere weeks
ago, what can you expect from there? I went from Williams to Mercedes
because I thought I’d have a car capable of winning.”

Now that Williams, and many other teams, have the upper hand on Mercedes, Nico has no reason to be optimistic about the rest of the season. While Schumacher is pushing for the team to focus on development of the 2011 car, Ross Brawn has indicated that the Mercedes team will continue to develop this year’s car for now.

However, at this stage, there is little point in pushing for anything this year, as Mercedes’s recent loss in form has crushed any hopes of a good finishing position. Renault are set to overtake them in the constructors’ championships soon, and Force India could well come close to the team, though they have little chance of getting past. A 5th place finish in the standings would be a disaster, considering the line-up that they have available to them.